Delhi HC seeks report on doctors' safety

New Delhi: Increasing incidents of violence against doctors by patients or their kin drew attention of the Delhi high court on Wednesday, which took a suo moto cognizance of the matter and asked the Centre and the AAP government to explain the steps they have been taken to counter it.

Citing a TOI report that highlighted how doctors at AIIMS are taking self-defence training, a bench of acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice Anu Malhotra said, "The above report would suggest one in two doctors in public hospitals face violence and that there has been an increase in such incidents. It also appears that the violence is not only verbal, but physical."

The bench sought a status report in ten days on provision of adequate security to the doctors, nurses and staff in public hospitals in the capital.

HC noted that "matters have reached such a pass that AIIMS Resident Doctors Association has decided to train its doctors in taekwondo. The very expression "Self-Defence Training" would suggest that doctors are contemplating violence in retaliation to violence. Looked from any angle, violence from either side cannot be tolerated or permitted."

Apart from the secretaries of ministry of health and family welfare of the Centre and the state government, the bench also made Indian Medical Association (IMA) a party to the petition.

The court also sought to know about the existing number of hospitals in Delhi and the beds available. It asked both the governments to provide details on outdoor and indoor patients visiting per day by May 19.

HC pointed out that, "Since the time hospitals were constructed and commenced operations, patient loads have grossly increased. There is no evidence to suggest any change in the numbers of medical experts to man these hospitals and provide patient care."